Mike Tyson ironed his boxing skills through 54 fights as an amateur before he fast-tracked through the heavyweight division, becoming its youngest champion.
Let him tell it Friday morning, they form his fondest memories.
Said Tyson, at ease at a podium in a conference room on the second floor of Sahara Las Vegas, site Saturday of his second eponymous amateur boxing showcase: “If it wasn’t for stuff like this … I wouldn’t be here. (These were) the best years of my boxing career. Being an amateur. Traveling by myself, with people and my trainer. Meeting different people from different corners of the world and becoming friends with them until the day you die, probably.
“That’s what life is about. That’s what fighting is about. Not necessarily to build all world champions, but it teaches you life, and you’ll be a champion in life.”
Almost 40 years removed from his coronation as the heavyweight division’s youngest-ever king with his second-round stoppage at Las Vegas Hilton over Trevor Berbick for the WBC crown, Tyson, 60, is hosting another “Mike Tyson Invitational” for amateur fighters. Sent to Las Vegas on Tyson’s dime in conjunction with support from sponsorships, dozens reported to the venue on Friday to get a taste of that big-fight feel.
Participants were peppered with questions from the press, providing answers filled with hope, dreams and focus. Bouts were announced and fighters walked onto a makeshift stage where Tyson waited to monitor their faceoffs as they posed for pictures the way he once would.
“They deserve it,” he said.
Zyon Duprey (Yonkers, New York) and Christopher Merced (Calabasas, California), 16-year-old heavyweights, didn’t wait for Tyson to start their staredown. Playful barbs in their press conference led to deadlocked eyes from point-blank range, oohs and aahs then handshakes and respect.
“I’m just building young kids,” said Tyson, Brooklyn born and long Las Vegas living. “I’m helping them get more experience so they can be able to compete. … Most kids, best fighters in the world, they don’t have the resources to do this traveling and the hotel room and all that stuff. So, I’m happy that I can take care of that so they don’t have to. … If I had to pay money, I wouldn’t be up here talking to you.”
May the best boxers win.
Tyson held his inaugural namesake invitational at Sahara in March, hoping to invigorate amateur boxing by matching top prospects in showcase bouts. A third invitational is set for October, albeit in Connecticut, and Tyson hopes to work his way to four invitationals per year, he said.
He also said he hopes his backing can “establish top quality fighters” for the Olympics, a longtime pipeline for superstardom. An American man hasn’t boxed his way to gold — won by Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya among others — since Andre Ward in 2004 while Claressa Shields (2012, 2016) is the only American woman to stand atop the Olympic dais.
But first things first, the Saturday showcase and its corresponding glory, underscored by Tyson.
“We just let these fighters do what they do best,” he said, “and that’s fight. … It’s all about the fighters.”
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
